I’ve heard from someone that Time magazine just called today’s generation of kids the “Me Me Me” Generation. Their basis was the amount of selfishness involved in the way kids live today.

And of course, a lot of (middle aged people or “adults”) people reacted with their own versions of “back in my day” speeches. I’ve heard people say “mga bata talaga ngayon iba na” “Grabe na yung mundo ngayon”.

Because of the amount of time kids are spending on social media, the way they dress, the games they play, the things they post publicly, their language, the “in” stuff and other “crazy” things happening today, people came up with a conclusion that kids today are “different” or worse, some think they are not the Future anymore.

Seriously? Iba na nga ba?

I think the only way we can come up with conclusions like these is by comparing information from the past to information from the present.

But oh wait, what were we doing back in our day when we were the “Future” of the world?

Okay, so kids today use way too much social media and super focused on themselves. Remember the time you kept fighting with your siblings over who gets to use the phone to talk to your friends using that landline with a three way? What would’ve you done if Facebook existed that time?

Yeah, I thought so.

Next, kids play way too much video games. Well video games back in our day sucked, sucky graphics, repetitive gameplay and overall way too simple. Of course you wouldn’t spend so much time playing it (though I know a lot of people who still did play way too much regardless)
What would you have done if today’s game existed in your time as a kid? Right now you might be a 20 something adult who still installs a lot of games on your mobile device.

The way kids today dress, their music and stuff. Wow. So you don’t like One Direction and Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, so were your parents when you were listening to all those Backstreet Boys, Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera or Mandy Moore. Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Wanna know why you can’t relate to those new artists? Yes, exactly, you’re old and they were made for the new kids and that doesn’t make them worthless. Art is a subjective thing so why spend so much time hating?

Aaaand of course, the world, the things happening today, the crimes, kids killing because Slenderman told them, early pregnancies, drugs and stuff.

I read a lot of people sharing these news with a caption

“Lost my faith in humanity”

People keep comparing the past with the present as if nothing bad ever happened in the past. What was our basis when we compare news today with the news of our time? Do we even watch the news back then? and even if we did, the amount of things we learn from TV and newspapers would never compare to the amount of information we consume with the internet.

We can’t keep treating the present like it’s a God forsaken thing just because we understood too little of our time. We should stop being the old people that made our walls.

Bad things have been happening way before these millennials were born and many more will come but that’s not their fault.

Wanna know why kids act the way they do? Remember why you acted the way you do.

Yes, their actions were mostly derived from the influence of adults (us), directly or indirectly. Why wouldn’t kids try smoking or drinking if they always see their “Kuyas” and “Ates” posting drunk pictures every weekend.

Wether we like it or not, we influence these kids.

We have the power to influence them, to guide them.

and that makes us responsible for them.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

We all know how awful we are when we were kids, we all did a couple of mistakes we can never be proud of, but look were you are right now. You grew up pretty well didn’t you? Even if you think you didn’t, don’t you want these kids to have a better future?

They’re kids, they will be reckless, they will be radical, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad.

They’re just like us when we were young.

and remember how you caught up every time you fall when you were young?

Yes, there were adults trying their hardest to believe in you, to hope in you, to have faith in you. That you are the future.

It might be too late for us, but they still have a chance to build that amazing dream. We can still help.

We should.